GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Despite rising interest rates and higher gas prices, consumers in Florida continue to be optimistic about the economy, according to the latest consumer confidence survey released by University of Florida economists.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Leslie McClellan, 68, could barely hold an empty soft drink can with his left hand years after a stroke rendered his left side almost completely useless. Forget about picking up a piece of paper or grasping a pencil — or, worse yet, preparing meals.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.–Reform efforts and a booming economy have carved 100,000 people off Florida’s welfare rolls in recent years, but a new University of Florida study shows that many of the most vulnerable former aid recipients continue to be plagued by poverty, joblessness and inadequate health care.

LEESBURG — A toxic strain of blue-green algae may be involved in the skyrocketing number of alligator deaths in Lake Griffin during the past two years, say state officials and University of Florida researchers.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—In a unique partnership between police and academia, University of Florida researchers are tailoring satellite-related mapping software to help police track crimes and allocate resources more efficiently.

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—With 75 percent of the shrimp in the United States now coming from other countries, seafood inspectors are working harder than ever to ensure the catch that lands on consumers’ plates is up to snuff.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Father’s Day may spotlight fatherhood, but dads are invisible men the rest of the year when it comes to being recognized as nurturers and caregivers for their children, says a University of Florida researcher.

GAINESVILLE — With drought conditions forecast to continue over much of the nation, many homeowners under water restrictions have little choice but to watch their lawns wither under the unrelenting sunshine.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A research team led by University of Florida geologists is the first to find evidence that parts of the Antarctic ice sheet have undergone episodes of massive instability that appear to correspond with periods of unusually warm temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere during the last ice age.

VERO BEACH—The risk of a widespread St. Louis encephalitis epidemic in Florida this year is almost nonexistent, says a medical entomologist with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida’s public schools are flocking to answer questions in the first large-scale study of the effects of vouchers on both students who use them and those who do not, says a University of Florida researcher.